Ruby Walsh landed the leading rider award at the 2015 Cheltenham Festival.
Walsh also has the most overall wins (45) and the most complete CV of wins in Cheltenham’s 27 races. He has notched up at least one success in 18 of the 23 races open to professionals. The missing legs are the Cross Country ( Walsh, McCoy & Geraghty choose not to ride in it), the new Novices Handicap Chase, the Coral Cup, Pertemps Final & Albert Bartlett Hurdle. The Albert Bartlett is the only current Grade 1 race run at the meeting that Ruby has not won.
AP McCoy has 31 wins in total and has also had at least one win in 16 of the 23 races open to professionals. The “gaps” in the Champion’s haul are the Cross Country, Mares Hurdle, Neptune Investment Management Novices Hurdle, Coral Cup, Fred Winter Hurdle, World Hurdle and Triumph Hurdle. McCoy has also won the now replaced Cathcart so has actually landed 17 different races at the Festival.
Barry Geraghty has 33 wins and has had at least one success in 16 of the 23 races open to professional jockeys. To complete his Cheltenham Festival CV Barry would need to win the Cross Country, Supreme Novices Hurdle, Mares Hurdle, Fred Winter, new Jewson Chase, Byrne Group Plate and the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase. The Supreme Novices Hurdle, Mares Hurdle and JLT novices Chase are the only Grade 1 races at the meeting that Barry has not won.
Richard Johnson has 20 Cheltenham Festival wins in 16 different races. Robert Thornton has had 16 Cheltenham Festival wins but strangely just one in the races now run on the Wednesday of the meeting.
We have tabled the Top 5 Cheltenham Festival Jockeys wins by race below :
| Grade | Race | Ruby Walsh | AP McCoy | Barry Geraghty | Richard Johnson | Robert Thornton |
| Tuesday Races | ||||||
| 1 | Supreme Novices’ Hurdle | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | Arkle Chase | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | Festival Steeple Chase (Handicap) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 1 | Champion Hurdle | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Cross Country Handicap Chase | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1 | Mares’ Hurdle | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Listed | Novices’ Handicap Chase | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Wednesday Races | ||||||
| National Hunt Chase (Amateurs) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | Neptune IM Novices’ Hurdle | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1 | RSA Chase | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 1 | Queen Mother Champion Chase | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | Coral Cup (Handicap Hurdle) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | Weatherbys Champion Bumper | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Thursday Races | ||||||
| 1 | JLT Novices’ Chase | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pertemps Final (Handicap Hurdle) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 1 | Ryanair Chase | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | World Hurdle | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | Byrne Group Plate | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Kim Muir Challenge Cup (Amateurs) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Friday Races | ||||||
| 1 | Triumph Hurdle | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | County Handicap Hurdle | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1 | Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Christie’s Foxhunter Chase | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Grand Annual Chase | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Replaced Races | ||||||
| Cathcart | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total Cheltenham Festival Wins | 45 | 31 | 33 | 20 | 16 |
CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL FORUM
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